The present invention relates generally to golf clubs and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly provides a golf putter with adjustable characteristics.
Many factors affect the accuracy of a putt in the game of golf, not the least of which are the skill and talent of the person striking the golf ball. Fortunately, as a novice takes the time to practice putting, and as the novice is trained by talented professionals, the novice's skills tend to gradually improve. In general, as the novice's skills improve, purchases are made of different putters, which suit the particular level of the novice's skills at the time the purchases are made.
Even seasoned professionals find that their skills wax and wane from time to time, or that their skills merely change. Accordingly, they must strike a golf ball differently, depending on their skill at the particular time, to maintain their same level of accuracy. For this reason, professionals will often keep an inventory of putters so that they will have putters suited to their skills when they need them.
As with any human endeavor, the game of golf also has its trends and fads. Many times a golf trend has to do with weight distribution in a putter or alignment of the putter striking surface with the golf ball. Some golfers feel compelled to purchase a new putter simply because it is "new".
For all of the above reasons--improving skills, changing skills, and changing trends--a golfer must purchase a number of putters over time. This is a very uneconomical situation, as each golfer really only needs one putter at a time, as long as that putter satisfies the golfer's particular skills, tastes, etc. at that time. This situation may be remedied by a putter which is adjustable in all the various characteristics known to affect putting accuracy. Some of the characteristics of a putter known to affect putting accuracy include striking face-to-shaft lateral alignment, center of gravity, head-to-shaft angle, total weight, weight distribution, and targeting.
Adjustable putters are well known in the art, but none of the putters proposed heretofore have offered a combination of adjustments which would enable a golfer to configure the putter adequately to suit the golfer's needs at any time. Some proposed adjustable putters provide for one or a few of the adjustments set out above, but are cumbersome in operation or too expensive to manufacture.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that it would be quite desirable to provide an adjustable putter which enables a golfer to adjust the characteristics of the putter to suit the golfer's needs. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such an adjustable golf putter which is economical to produce, economical to own, and easy to configure.